Book Post 17: Invention by Design : How Engineers get from Thought to Thing by Henry Petroski

Book Name : Invention by Design : How Engineers get from Thought to Thing 

Author : Henry Petroski 

Genre : Non- Fiction

 
What is it about? : This book is about the nature of Engineering. How Engineers think of a problem or a necessity and try to meet it. It does this by presenting a few case studies. Starting from the common paper clips to Bridges it covers a huge range of things designed by Engineers.  

How I came to read it :  I had this book in my wish list for a long time now. I remember I first came to know about it some 5 years back while I was in my first job. A major hindrance to getting my hands on it was the cost and its unavailability on major online book stores. Here in Vancouver I could easily get it from the University library thanks to a friend.  

Did I like it? 

Moderately. The style and a bit of dry writing made it a mildly boring book to read. I had so much expectations on this one. 

The content is, without a doubt, hugely informative. The development of the things presented in the case studies are shown in a such a way so as to throw light on the different facets of Engineering like Design, analysis, failure, economics etc. They also touch on different engineering fields like Aeronautical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Mechanical and Structural Engineering. The case studies are of the following items:  Paper clips, Pencils Points, Zippers, Aluminum Cans, Fax, Airplanes, Water networks, Bridges and Buildings.

I never knew that the  development of paper clips involved a lengthy Engineering process. You would be amazed to know how many designs were suggested for the simple purpose of holding a bunch of papers together. There was an important point mentioned that Engineers spot problems that the general public cannot see. The development of a lot of everyday products is the result of this ability of the Engineers. The other case studies reveal a lot about the issues in developing a product and how engineers go about solving them.

All in all, had it not been for the drab writing this book would have been a powerful magnet for attracting people to Engineering. 

Book Post 15: How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith

Book Name : How to be an Explorer of the World 

Author : Keri Smith

Genre : Self Help/Kids

What is it about? : As the title amply makes it clear this book tries to inculcate in the reader all the qualities that makes one an Explorer of the World. From Observation pointers and exercises to Note taking tips it covers a lot of points. Ideally for kids but equally suitable for adults who have forgotten their inner child this book is a life changer or maybe a habit changer to be more precise. 

How I came to read it :  Long back I spotted this book in the UBC Bookstore. I flipped through it and right there decided I have to read it. But I already had a backlog of books to read so I skipped it then. Months later I burrowed it from the Vancouver Public Library. 

Did I like it? 

Absolutely loved it! Written in a simple kids language it has a number of fun exercises. It starts with an exercise asking the reader to list down all the object near where he/she is sitting. From this beginning it goes on to list a multitude of different tasks. Sprinkled among these is a few quotations to inspire and motivate. At the beginning of the book is a Mission Statement which I have posted below. I simply loved this book. It would be a perfect gift for little kids. 

Geocaching! My first find.

Last month, at the insistence of Suyog we finally managed to track down our first Geocache. 

I first learned about geocaching while reading a book called 'Maphead' by Ken Jennings. It is must read book for geography and map lovers. 

Geocaching is an outdoor game where people use GPS to hide and locate containers called geocaches at specific locations with marked coordinates. Geocaching's origins are quite interesting. 

Till 2000, even though the GPS system in the United States was capable of locating a GPS holder's position on earth within a few metres of accuracy it was intentionally scrambled by the Government due to National Security reasons. This 'Selective Availability' as it was called was finally turned off on 01 May 2000. All the GPS receivers instantly became 10 times more accurate. Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant in Portland, Oregon had stayed up all night to see the change in his GPS receiver. On seeing the change in accuracy from 100 metres to around 10 he was mighty excited and thought this would make a nice game of hide and seek. And so he hid the first ever geocache nearby his house and shared the coordinates on an internet GPS forum for other members to find. Within a day another enthusiast searched and located his cache. And so the game of Geocache was born. It soon exploded all over the world. 

Geocaches are now spread out all over the world. Theres one in Vatican and one in the temples of Angkor Vat and another in McMurdo Station in Antartica. For a period of time there was an extraterritorial geocache too. The GC1BE91 was in the International Space Station from 2008 to 2017.  

There are some legendary geocaches too like a cache called Psycho Urban Cache #13, a West Virginia cache that was dropped from a helicopter into the Potomac River. 

Our first geocache hunt was nothing like the exotic ones mentioned here. Ours was located in a park near our home. We went to the place and using the clues found out the small container. It contained a log of all the people who had found it before us. Stupidly enough we did not bring a pen with us so we were content to just take a pic and leave the container back in its place. 

AECS Manuguru Diaries.P2. The Kings of Summer

As a kid I was never into sports. I played cricket occasionally but it did not interest me much. I was more into watching English movies and reading books. And among movies, adventure genre was my favorite. One of the things from these movies which fascinated me was a tree house. I always wanted to build one. One summer in my Eighth grade I started working on it.

Our school had a vast open land in front of it. It was dry with shrubs and bushes all around, punctuated with some trees here and there.It was something like the grounds in the videos of Serengeti that they show on the Discovery channel. This was a perfect place to build a tree house I thought. At that time I was good friends with a kid called Harsha. He was a strong healthy kid whose one goal in life was to become a soldier or as he called himself 'Army Man'. So everyone else did the same. So one fine day I told army man my plan to build a tree house. He was readily up for it and added in his own ideas.

It was the summer season then and summer is the season when magic happens. Our colony was transformed into a dry and desolate land every summer. The roads wore a deserted look in the afternoons, evenings were spent outdoors, rasna and roohafza were the order of the day and school used to finish early in the afternoon.

One fine summer day we decided to put our plan for a tree house in action. First we did several recces of the area after school time and identified a tree. But try as we may, we could not figure out a way to make a house on top of that tree so, in true kid logic, we decided to make one at the base of the tree itself.  So slowly everyday after school we made our way to the tree and built the house. First the foundation and the skeletal structure, which didn't take much effort.We gathered four stout sticks and rammed them into the ground at four corners. We built a mound of soil around the sticks to reinforce it. Next step was to build the walls. This we did by gathering many slender sticks and holding them in place by cords we got from home. Soon we had the house almost ready.  The roof of the house was also made in the same fashion. We covered all the walls and the roof with branches and leaves. So finally our tree house was ready.

But all of this was not without some hurdles and hiccups. This whole adventure had one of only two instances where I got into a physical fight with another kid. I don't remember how it started and what led to the fight. All I remember is me hitting him in the stomach and he landing a few blows on me. It ended as soon as it began. The funny thing about all of this was that later we became good friends and he even helped me in building our tree house.

Our tree building was interrupted briefly after two of my favorite teachers saw Harsha and me wandering off into the fields after school one day. I still remember the scene. Standing on the footpath which separated the road and the field they shouted our names and called us back. There we got an earful about the dangers of the field and the animals which roamed there. This stopped our visits for sometime but we soon resumed as soon as the matter was forgotten.

After our tree house was finished we spent some time visiting the place and spending some time around the house now and then. Gradually it was forgotten and we moved onto other stuff. Years later the whole place was cleared and there now stands a number of new quarters. Whenever I walk past that road I cant help but recall those carefree days when the top most priority of my life was to build a tree house in a dry field.

Once upon a night dreary!

One night,as I was walking back to my home I passed by this strange house on our street. It was quite late in the night and quite windy. The wind was making the branches of the trees shake and shiver as they crashed against each other.

This strange house looked empty and lifeless but it had a wind chime at the front door. Now, I don't like wind chimes because of the constant and sometimes jarring noise they produce. But this one was different. It produced the most melodious sound I have ever heard a wind chime produce. I stood there for a while transfixed.

The overall effect this whole scene had on me was quite unnerving. The late hour, the rustling of the leaves in the wind, the stillness of the house itself and the melody of the wind chime. Blame it on my love for horror stories but the house looked like the perfect setting for a classic Gothic horror tale. With these thoughts in mind I quickened my pace and left the spot with the melody of the wind chimes fading out behind.

An Unearthly Ride.

This is not a true story.
Being a huge horror fan I thought why not write a story of my own.This is a small attempt.The setting of the story is true and this trip did take place in Chhattisgarh last year.But none of this supernatural stuff happened.But there are a few things true.

                                                                           Part 1

How did I get myself into this? That was the question swirling in my mind as I was drinking a coke sitting in a ramshackle shop in a small village in Chhattisgarh. The sun was just above the horizon slowly making its way down. Even then my shirt was already wet with perspiration and was sticking onto my body making me feel very uncomfortable.But more than that the thought of the journey ahead was worrying me.I was on a bike ride from Bilaspur, a city, to Tamnar, a remote village which is where I worked in a Power plant.

Now there were two ways I could get from Bilaspur to Tamnar. One was the main road which took a longer route and was used by many. The other was a remote route which passed through the jungles of Korba. These jungles had a reputation of being infested with elephants and bears.I had heard many stories about people encountering elephants and bears.Some people were lucky, they just got only a glimpse of the animals while they were crossing the road but others not so much.There are cases where people have even died.Naturally I was worried.I was through half my journey and right now was sitting in the last proper village before the actual thick jungles started.

My actual plan had been to start in the afternoon and reach my room in Tamnar by evening before darkness sets in. But my being unfamiliar with the narrow village roads and because of a number of wrong turns I had covered only half the distance.The other half was through the jungle and I did not intend to cover it after dark. The sun was setting as I sat there pondering over the journey ahead.There was one more small detail which kept gnawing at my mind. There was a particular stretch of road right at the end of the route which had a reputation of a different kind. There were rumours of it being haunted.Most of the people use it only during the day and people who even think of using it after dark do so only in pairs.Even in pairs there were a couple of stories, recalling ome such story sent a chill down my spine.

Two people on a bike were going through that stretch after a late night party at a dhaba. Normally they wouldn't have dared to take that route but on that particular night a combination of factors, chief among them a copious amount of alcohol made them take that route. As they were passing through a particularly sharp curve, an oncoming bike with high beams made them lose their balance and both of them tumbled on to the field beside the road. Their bike fell on its side and screeched to a halt a few metres ahead. Its headlight flickered for a while and then shut off. Total darkness now. The oncoming biker, god knows who that was, did not stop and was away on his/her/it's way. There were no villages on that route.And because of its reputation there was no one to be seen. One of the guys now barely conscious lifted his head off the ground only to see a small red glowing ball behind the bushes which lay directly ahead of him.As he was trying to make sense of what he was looking at, he saw a sight he wont forget for the rest of his life. As he was focusing on the ball to make out what it was, slowly as if a screen was being lifted in front of it, another similar red ball appeared beside the first one. It took 5 seconds for the guy to realize that what he was looking at was a pair of eyes.Somehow he knew those eyes belonged to no man or animal. With a huge scream he leapt back and crawled on to the road.Somehow in the darkness he lifted his friend and the bike and managed to make his was back to the nearest town. He spent the next two days at home with high fever. His friend was lucky.He didn't see anything.

The fact that I had to pass through the same road was making me very nervous to the point I was on the verge of deciding to go back to Bilaspur. But I had to report for duty the next day and I had to reach home. I always prided myself on the fact that I could lay good plans. This particular one just backfired massively. After weighing my options I finally I decided I had no other feasible alternative but to press forward on the route. I thought Ill take the chance.Little did I know what I was getting into.

To be continued...

Fake Forward!

Google displays a search result in 0.44 seconds. Assuming it takes 10 seconds to type your search query, and a maximum of 10 seconds for a web page to open, I can say with a certain amount of certainty that it takes only 20.44 seconds for knowing about something with google. So what amazes me is why so many people are reluctant to use this. The reason I am talking about this is that on facebook and Watsapp you see people sharing all kinds of fake messages. People don't bother to verify anything. To cite an example, the other day on facebook I saw a friend of mine sharing a post about a recently started law dealing with the Indian penal Code. I got suspicious as soon as i saw the post. It sounded ridiculous. I did a Google search and it turned out exactly as I thought it would. A fake. There was no such law and the IPC number it cited dealt with a completely different area. So a simple search would have revealed about the authenticity of the message saving misinformation to spread. Now there are a lot of reasons for such kind of messages to be actually made. False propaganda is one for a start. You can simply create a false message citing an achievement/feat/deed/accomplishment of a person/organization/country/government etc. and spread it on a social media platform. It spreads unchecked as a lot of people don’t take the time to verify the message. They accept the truth at its face value. This unchecked and rapid growth creates whatever effect the OP(Original Poster) wanted to create in the people. By the time sensible people who actually check these kind of things start declaring it as fake these messages will have spread far and wide fulfilling the purpose for what they were created. Now if these messages are harmless not much damage is done. But communal messages instigating one particular community against another by putting up a lot of fabricated lies creates huge problems for law and order. So the next time somebody forwards you a message be sure to verify it before you forward it to someone. 

Imagine a dream!

What are dreams? Why do we get dreams? If you think about it for a minute the very idea of a dream sounds so magical.I mean when you are dreaming not for a second do you know that you are dreaming.Everything seems so real.You believe that whatever is happening is real.Only when you wake up that you realize that everything was just an illusion and was happening in the confines of your mind.

Now imagine if only we had the power to control what we dream about. Of course we can always just sit and 'imagine' things.But there is a difference the two scenarios.
First scenario is being awake and imagining an event.The second is being in the state of sleep and dreaming about the same event.No matter how deeply and richly you imagine an event,you know that its all fake.But when you dream in your sleep you believe that its all real.Therein lies the key difference.So the experience of dreaming is in my opinion a wonder in itself.

Consider the following scenario.You want something to happen in your dream.So just before sleeping you imagine the whole event.And you get the same thing in your dream.Only difference is now you believe everything is real.You don't know you are dreaming.It will be like a part of your brain is creating an illusion for another part.That part wants this part to believe. Isn't it fascinating? Generally our brain is taken as a individual entity but if we look at this dream aspect,it is as if the brain is divided into two parts.One part creates the whole dream and the other part believes it.

Dreams,though so fascinating,leave mixed feelings.Somebody(I don't know who) summed it up quite nicely.
''I prefer nightmares. I wake up from bad dreams relieved, because I know they're not real; I wake up from good dreams disappointed, because I know they're not real"

Need for Sleep!

My eyes were red.My head was spinning.My eyebrows heavy.A rumbling sound, like the drone of a particularly smooth motor was running in the background.As my brain was shutting down,Slowly,painfully the world was fading into oblivion.A sharp jab in my left abdomen suddenly halted the whole process and quickly bought me back into the world.I found myself sitting in a classroom listening to my biology teacher.My friend on my left was the one who saw me about to drop on the desk,so being the lifesavers that friends are,he quickly made the split second decision to save my life and at the same time with delirious satisfaction and delight elbowed me quite violently.You see friends are always looking for chances to beat the shit out of you and this was a golden chance he wasn't going to miss.Though I muttered a few choice expletives at him I was quite grateful that he woke me up.That is how you show gratitude to friends.Throw some nice exotic sounding expletives and you are good.Having got back into the world of the living, I then shifted my focus,whatever that was left,to my teacher.She was rambling on about some organism that attaches itself to the body of another organism,shutdowns the brain and slowly takes over the host.Yeah,I thought to myself,you are having the same effect on this classroom.Five minutes was all I could listen and slowly my mind drifted off to some other thought.And a couple of minutes later the cycle was beginning to restart.My mind was slowly shutting down.Again a jab from the ever alert friend woke me up. Ahh! I groaned to myself.This has got to stop.I imagined that there should be a bed right beside my bench and as soon as I felt that extreme sleepiness that only teachers can induce,I will jump right into the bed and sleep till my heart's content.But that would remain a dream.So sad.Another thing that annoyed me was sometimes at home when I wanted to sleep early I couldn't fall asleep easily.I thought at times like those these teachers should be made available and a class arranged right beside my bed.As soon as the lecture starts I will fall asleep and jump into my bed.So much for wishful thinking.

Sleep inducing classes were the worst.Right through my school,junior college and college these zombie making classes made life difficult.In school we had a few teachers who,at times,looked like had magical powers in inducing sleep in students.In college I had the freedom to skip boring lectures.If at all I ever attended those classes it was only because I had a very urgent need of attendance. If theres one thing that I don't feel nostalgic about,its these sleepy classes.Thank god I no longer have to attend those.

Roll no.17 ? Absent sir!

This was me in college! Never had more than 75% attendance! 

No name in first box!

Name in the list for the rest of the semesters!

My 5 favourite coming of age movies.

After the horror genre my next favourite genre is the coming of age movie.They are about that exciting phase of life which when we are going through,we cant wait it to end and once it ends we cant stop thinking about it.That glorious phase when we can get away with most things.And at the same time there are uncertainties,awkwardness and a sense of being lost.These movies show that phase.The following are my favourite from that genre.The first two are clear favourites. The other three are in no particular order.

1. Napoleon Dynamite
What is it about
Its about a dorky 16 year old who tries to help his friend win a class president elections.
Why I liked it-
It is set in a small town and It brilliantly showed how life in small towns is.It has this innocent rural quality to it.People in this movie are all good.Some are serious some are funny.And the quality of humour is very high.This was the movie that piqued my interest in indie and offbeat movies.

2. Ghost world
What is it about- Its is about two girls of a small town spending their summer vacation while planning their college life.
Why I liked it
Scarlett Johnson would be a big reason.Her acting her is superb.She perfectly portrays the character of an aimless girl here. Her co star Emily Birch is good too. Add Steve Buscemi to the mix and you already have a classic indie movie.The story revolves around these girls getting acquainted with Buscemi for fun and slowly things take a different turn.The thing about this movie is it is slow and things happen leisurely.It has some wonderful moments.And it brilliantly shows their naivety and direction less attitude to life.

3.Stand By me
What is it about
It is about a gang of four 12 year old friends who set out to track down a body of a boy who gets struck by a train in a small town in the US.
Why I liked it
First of this is about friendship.And the thing that any movie about friendship should have is chemistry.This movie excels there.Like in every gang of friends, the four friends here have all different characteristics and yet they have so much in common.For one they are out for an adventure together. There are things that they do together,they insult each other and when the time comes they stand by each other.This movie perfectly portrays the worth of childhood friends.

4.The Spectacular Now

What is it about
Its about a popular guy who falls in love with the good girl/Sounds clichéd but the movie deals with the story rather well.
Why I liked it
My favourite Hollywood romance movie.The movie follows a very simple plot.The characters are simple.The plot is simple.The movie is honest in its portrayal of the kid who believes that the present is spectacular and he has no need to think of the future.He meets a rather quiet girl who brings a change in this outlook towards life. There is no unnecessary drama and no nonsense.This is a very good mix of romance and a bit of a philosophy.

5.Safety Not Guaranteed
What is it about
Its about a man who puts in an ad in the local paper 'Wanted someone to go back in time with me.This is not a joke.You'll get paid after we get back.Must bring your own weapons.I have only done this once before.Safety not guaranteed' Three magazine employees(two interns) set out to interview the man behind the ad.
Why I liked it
The absolutely interesting premise is what hooked me. An interesting set of characters and very wonderful execution will keep you wondering till the very end if the main lead is telling the truth or is just plain delusional.Also this is set in a town.By now you may have deduced I am partial to movies set in small towns.The characters in this movie have this sweet sadness about them about missed chances and lost dreams.Add to that, elements of science fiction,romance and comedy,it is a nice little indie movie worth your time.One of my all time favourites.

Close Encounters of the Annoying Kind.Part 2.The motormouth.

Storytellers.Man,they are a pain.Especially when you meet one in a train.I did not actually met one but my fellow passengers did.I was travelling from Nagpur to Raigarh in a train.As always I had booked a upper berth.I do that to avoid talking to people and on this particular journey even that precaution was not going to save me.There was this fellow sitting there with the other passengers who started telling stories.At first he was quiet.I fell asleep quite soon after the train started but then constant chatter broke my sleep.I could hear a guy telling a story.At first I tried to listen what it was about.It was something about mythology.I never heard of the characters he kept talking about.And no  it was not even remotely interesting.I mean he was talking about some guys slippers which he wore on a particular day and why he wore a green chaddi with a yellow shirt on a full moon.I was truly irritated but atleast I thought I did not have to fake enthusiasm like those poor listeners below.I was thinking about those guys while his jibber jabber was going on continuously when suddenly out of nowhere,one of the listeners asked him a question.I was incredulous.So the listeners were also of the same mould.They were indeed interested and had questions too.I cursed my luck for falling in this bunch of nincompoops.Anyway I pressed my blanket over my ears and tried to fall back to sleep but thanks to that motormouth and his loyal group of listeners I couldn't sleep properly and had to endure a torturous journey. 

Q and A series. Q1.What is the one life experience that made you mature significantly?

These questions were asked in Quora and the answers here were the answers I wrote there.This is the first part of a series I will continue.

Q.What is the one life experience that made you mature significantly?

A.Once me and my friends were eating steaks in a restaurant in Hyderabad.When the bill came it was Rs3000 for just the three of us.When the time to pay came none of us had cash.We had only cards and the card machine of the restaurant had a problem.So I decided to go out and take out money from an ATM.I went to a nearby ATM and took out the cash and was making my way back to the restaurant when suddenly my eyes fell on a beggar sitting on the side of the road.The road was poorly lit and I couldn't see properly.But what I saw moved me.The beggar was carefully unwrapping some thing.I looked carefully and saw that it was some leftover vadas.The careful and delicate manner of his,which looked like it was the most precious thing he had, almost made my eyes moist.Here was a man who was eating leftovers and I was just coming off from a Rs3000 meal.I was disgusted with myself. I hastened inside,paid the bill and came out to search for that guy but he was gone. Though I do some work for the less fortunates (I started a club of like minded friends for doing charity work few years back) I decided it was time to up the ante and increase the amount of work.I am,these days working on it.

I stand with....

I stand with Paris,France
I stand with Baghdad,Iraq
I stand with Beirut,Lebanon
I stand with Fotokol,Cameroon
I stand with Arish,Egypt
I stand with Mogadishu,Somalia
I stand with Syria
I stand with Palestine
I stand with Sudan
I stand with Libya
I stand with Yemen
I stand with Mexico
I stand with all the people in the world who have become a victim of violence.

As a Muslim I condemn this latest act of violence in France.
A number of terrorist outfits in the world claim to be Islamic but they are anything but Islamic.
The one responsible for the most recent attack, in Paris,ISIS is, as a muslim from Singapore rightly labelled 'Cancer at the heart of Islam'.

They do not represent muslims as they claim.They are a weed that needs to be rooted out.

Islam does not teach violence.
Islam does not tells you to harm others.

The Quran says the following

'Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all of humanity'- Quran 5:32

As a Muslim I am deeply saddened by what these terrorists are doing in the name of Islam.And over 1.6 Billion muslims all over the world feel the same. These terrorists have no religion.

I dream of that day when all of these terrorists are wiped off from the face of the earth.

My Videos.Part 3.Random

Whatever videos have been left out from the previous two posts I have them here.Some are related to school and couple of them are about travel trips I made.

1.This was when we celebrated Teachers Day during our first year of Intermediate.That was back in 2007.

2.Then came the Teachers Day of the year 2008.That was the last year I spent in my Colony.

3.In my second year our school participated in a large national Youth fest comprising of all the branches of AECS schools.I took part in the Quiz event and we even bagged the first Position.Heres the full account of that wonderful trip.Below is the video I made of the pictures that we took there.

4.In 2007 we hosted  a farewell party for our seniors.I still remember the daily meetings we used to hold,the little arguments and the different responsibilities we had.It was all very exciting.

5.In intermediate we used to do all sorts of shenanigans.Like one time when one of our classmates threw small stones at a bee hive just to see how the hive absorbs the stone first and then ejects it.But the inevitable followed and one time the bees flew out in anger and attacked the large number of us standing there to watch the show.Two bees bit me and that stung me for days.Another time when one of our most strict teachers was teaching we took a video of him.It was very successful.He didn't notice.Heres the video I made after many years of the actual video we shot.

 

6.School Days are hard to forget.One day during my engineering days when I was reminiscing about my school days I dug out all the videos I had of those days and made a compilation of them.I realized that during our intermediate we took a lot of videos.Heres the compilation.

 

  7.The following two videos are of the trips I made with friends to Puri in Orissa and then to Mainpat in Chhattsigarh.

   

Though I have made a number of other videos they are not meant for public.They are too cheesy to be shared with the public.So they will remain in the depths of Youtube only for my viewing and cringing.

My Videos.Part 2.College Days



Everyone likes his/her college days.So do I.I had some memorable moments both with my college mates and my friends during the 4 years I spent in Hyderabad. Here are some videos I made during those 4 years.

 

1.The below video was taken during our college Freshers day.Thanks to our seniors we had lots of fun on that day and got to know many of our classmates and seniors.One guy named Ehatareen nearly made mincemeat of my feet when he accidentally stepped on them during his dance.



 





2.A trip to the historic city of Bidar was done in the second year.APSRTC buses,autos,donkey driven carts we used them all in this trip.Not to forget one wonderful Andhra meals we had in a roadside dhaba.

 

3.Then followed a trip to Bijapur where we saw the mighty Gol Gumbaz.One of the rare times when I acted crazy in public.My friend Ameen and myself shoted random meaningless stuff when we were in the whispering alley at the top of the Gol Gumbaz.

'Master ji papaji ki patloon do bilang choti kardo' was the most repeated one.

 

3.Another trip to Bhongir Fort.Sitting at the top of the hill overlooking the town of bhongir,my friend Rahmath and I had a thoughtful conversation parts of which I still remember.

 

 

4.'Adsophos' was our college fest and it was 2 days of full fun.When I was in second year I was a volunteer for an event and when Adsophos came again in fourth year I organized that same event.It felt quite good.





 

5.All good things come to an end.In the last days of our fourth year we had a wonderful party at Alankrita Resorts.The cricket match and dip in the pool were the highlights.

 

 

The following videos are about the trips I had with my childhood friends during my college days.

 

1.Nearby our colony in Aswapuram we have this wonderfully secluded lake called Tummalacheruvu. We visited it once and this video is a personal favorite. 



 

2.In my second year I visited suryapet where three of my close friends were doing their engineering.

This video is a compilation of that trip and another trip we did.



 

3.In my second year I visited my friend's place in karimnagar where he was doing his engineering. I visited the mallangoor fort there.One of the toughest climbs I did before Roopkund happened.

 

6.This was perhaps the best trip our gang of friends had till date.8 out of 9 were present and we had some serious fun in vizag.

 

7.This was about Ananthagiri Hills near Hyderabad.Of all the videos I have made till date this has the highest views on Youtube.

 

 



I made a number of other videos during this time about our school and other stuff.I will post them in the next part.If my videos remind you of any memorable incidents please I implore you to either comment below or maybe message me.

When my article got published in 'The Hindu' (School days)

King Solomon's Mines is one of my all time favorites.It was one of the books responsible for starting in me a desire for travel.I wrote a brief review about it back in by Intermediate days.The actual article was largely edited and the result was considerably different from what I wrote.But nonetheless I was and still am happy that my article got published in 'The Hindu'

5 Changes I would like to see in Indian railways.

Here are Five changes that I would like to see in Indian railways.


1-There should be a complete overhaul of the classes that exist in our Railways.I think that there is a huge gap between a sleeper class and 3A.Indian Railways should introduce a new class between Sleeper and 3A.Something which is more comfortable and has bit more amenities.No need of AC just basics.

2-The maintenance of toilets of all classes should be improved dramatically.The trains already have a rocking motion ,add to that the unclean toilets and the lack of basic facilities like a proper jug,a faucet and hooks to hang stuff on,the task of going to an train toilet is the stuff of nightmares.

3-More number of Chair car and 2s bogies should be added in most of the trains.Personally I think Indian Railways underestimates the potential of Chair cars and 2s classes.

4-Food quality has to be improved.I have seen tea vendors selling tea in makeshift vessels.I have even seen one guy with a half cut bisleri bottle using it as a funnel.One look and you are no more hungry.

5-Start another system of booking tickets between the normal booking and tatkal.Maybe at double the price and at a weeks advance.

Bonus-Introduce a host for every train.Someone along the lines of a Airhostess.Someone who would help the people with any minor problems like getting their blankets,food, or any other needs.

There is never a perfect time for doing anything!

Just do it!

This has to be one of the best advice ever!

Before you read further let me just put this-Whatever I say here is my opinion and though I am a rookie part time traveller I have travelled quite a bit.

Quite a few people have asked me how I manage time between my work and travelling.I always say the same thing.I prioritize things and when I make a goal I try to execute it as soon as possible.I have consciously tried to remove the word 'dekhenge' from my word.If I want to visit a particular place I immediately make a tentative plan regarding it.I don't say to myself ' zindagi bakhi hai.dekhte hai'  

My advice to all those people who have a passion to do anything is - Just do it.Don't make excuses.You like sketching.Do it once in a while atleast. Don't blame 'time'.You like photography but don't have a good camera? No problem at least start with your camera phone.Just don't sit around and make poor excuses saying you would have surely been a good photographer if you had a good camera.

And remember in life something or the other comes up everytime.Do it regardless.There never will be a perfect time for doing the things you like.You have to make compromises and start doing.If you wait for the perfect time,you will never actually get to do the things you like.

In case of unavoidable circumstances may be you can back off for the time being.Step back and try later.Lose the battle but try to win the war.

One of my friends has been thinking of buying a bike for a long time now.Two years to be exact.And he gives the same standard replies if queried about this bike.''I am confused between two models''.''I am confused about the price''.''I am confused about this''.''I am in doubt about that''.''Something has come up''.It goes on.Two major things lacking in people, that I have observed, are 

1.Resolve

2.A plan 

If you wish to do something be determined to do it and make a plan about it.People underestimate the process of making a plan.I mentioned in a previous post about planning.You can read it here.

Personally I make plans for even the smallest of things.Like I made a plan last month about writing this post.And here I am.That goal is accomplished.

This post was inspired by two reasons

1-The number of questions people were asking me about my juggling of my hobbies and work

2-Two individuals in my friend circle who frustrate me the most.They have the talent and the mindset to do wonderful things and all they do is make excuses about why they don't DO the stuff that they only TALK about.This post is for them.

Maa,meri maa,mamma!

              My mom sat on the floor .I rested my head on her lap.The warm sunlight overhead was streaming in falling on us.My mother started telling me a story.The kind of stories that only mothers know.The comfortable place of my head on her lap,the soothing kind of way she was telling the story and the warm sunlight overhead combined to lull me into a sort of dreamy sleep. As I drifted into sleep I could half consciously hear her words slowly disappearing into oblivion.I slept,in that space and time,like I had no care in the world.

               That was in my childhood when my whole family lived at one place in one home.Those were the best days of my life.

              I now live some 1000 km away from home,away from mom.Sometimes I get dreams where I am back in home, back with mom.Awaking from such kind of dreams is the hardest.Though I go home to mom every 3 or 4 months I still find it difficult to adjust to a life without my family.

                My mom is the epitome of patience.I have seen no other person with the kind of patience that she has.I have never seen her lose her temper at housemaids even after their worst behavior.And sometimes when we have some some minor arguments,no matter how angry she is, she still comes back before sleeping and asks if we had enough food.

                 During our school days she used to walk all the way from our home to school to give us our lunch.She was always the one to buy us expensive toys.I remember my visits to our local shopping center to buy stuff.We always came back with lots of things to eat.And sometimes when she went alone I used to wait in home,along with my siblings, for the goodies.She never failed in bringing them. Even these days whenever I visit home she is the first one to go out to the nearby market to bring goodies for me.She doesn't wait for my brother or father to do so.Like my dad says she is an ocean of love.

                    In one Korean drama that I saw it was said that if you love someone one of the best things that you can do for them is cook something for them with love.A mother does this everyday.She cooks delicious dishes with love and care and we ungrateful kids whine and complain.In Islam we have this principle that one shouldn't say even an 'uf' in front of one's parents.

                    As an aside here is an interesting incident that happened with my uncle.One time my uncle ( my mom's brother) was at home in Hyderabad.He works in Saudi Arabia and sends money home to my grandma.One day some guy made a  snide remark at my uncle saying that his mother is wasting his money here in India while he works hard in Saudi. My uncle replied with the quote of the century.He said ''she is my mother.She can literally burn the notes if she wants to''

I have engraved these lines on the slate of my brain and I keep reminding myself about them from time to time.

No amount of words can ever be sufficient for the praise my mom rightly deserves.

Sometimes I wonder 'For such a good mom am I a good son?'